Method and apparatus for excavating and loading materials



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H. M. CHANCE ET AL METHOD AND APPARATUS FOREXCAVATING AND LOADINGMATERIALS Filed July 8, 1918 April 29 1924.

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April 29, 1924. 1,491,788

' H. M. CHANCE ET AL METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR EXCAVATING AND LOADINGMATERIALS Filed July 8, 1918 2 SheetsSheet 2 N PRU N y flan/41,

Patented Apr. 29, 1924.-

[TED STATE 1,491,738 PATENT oFFicE.

HENRY- M. 'cHANcE, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, AND THOMAS m. cHANcE,4

or BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR EKCAVATING AND LOADING MATERIALS.

Application filed July 8,

To all whom it may concern:

Be is known that we, HENRY M. CHANCE and THOMAS M. CHANoE, citizens ofthe United States, residing at Philadelphia, in the city and county ofPhiladelphia, State of Pennsylvania, and at Baltimore, State ofMaryland, respectively, have invented a certain new and useful Methodand Apparatus for Excavating and Loading Materials, whereof thefollowing is a specification.

The object of our invention is to provide means for mechanically loadingcoal, rock, ore or other materials, especially, but not exclusively, foruse in mines or other places where the space available for the operationof a machine is restricted, and where the use of loaders like the steamshovel, or clamshell, or bucket excavators, elevators or other types ofloaders, is inconvenient or impossible. A further object of ourinvention is to excavate certain classes of material as well as to loadit, the invention being applicable to the excavation of materials suchas can readily be mined with a pick. Our invention is especiallyapplicable to the loading of coal, or ore, underground where thehead-room or height from the floor t0 the roof of the working place orchamber in which the material is mined, is relatively small, so thatmechanical loaders of the types now in use either cannot be operated orare operated at a great disadvantage, but its use is not limited to workunder such conditions as it can also be used where the space in thevicinity of the material to be loaded is large.

In coal mines or other mines in which the bed of coal or other materialto be mined is horizontal, or nearly horizontal, the excavated materialcommonly lies at the working face in a pile, the top of the pilereaching up to within a short distance of the roof of the workingchamber. Mechanical loaders heretofore developed to load materials undersuch conditions, operate upon the same principle used in loadingmaterials by hand, that is to say, by forcibly driving a shovel, scoopor bucket into (or under) the material to be loaded, thus completely orpartially filling the implement with the material then raising theimplement and dump ing the material either directly into a mine car orupon a conveyor, which in turn dis-' charges it into a mine car. Allmechanical loaders operating upon this principle must 1918. Serial No.243,912.

be built to resist the severe stresses and strains to which they aresubjected when the shovel strikes a large or tightly wedged lump ofmaterial, and must therefore be of massive and heavy construction, andmust be anchored in place to act as a fulcrum to resist the reactivethrust when the shovel is driven into the material to be loaded. Thestresses to which these machines are subjected are therefore compressionstresses in the arms or parts of the machine to which the shovel isattached and these must be stifi enough to prevent buckling or bendingunder the stresses to which they are thus subjected.

In carrying out our invention we avoid or overcome these'difliculties byemploying an entirely different principle of operation which may bedescribed as a method whereby the material is raked from the pile eitherdirectly into a mine car, or upon a conveyor and thus discharged intoamine car. In employing the principle of a rake or hoe in loadingmaterial, the parts which are subjected to stressare in tension, and thereaction developed thereby tends to drive the machine up to or into thematerial to be loaded, and not to push it away, as is the case withloaders in resent use. Machines are known and have een used in which thematerial ismoved in practical imitation of the use of a hoe'or rake byhand, the material being scraped by such rake or hoe into a bucket orreceptacle or into or upon an elevator or conveyor. I

In attempting to use an implement simi lar to a rake or a hoe ofordinary and relatively light construction, for the purpose of draggingloose material into a car or upon a conveyor, the implement will engagethe larger lumps or the projecting arts of the top of the material to beloaded ut will not penetrate the mass or move a large uantity ofmaterial at each stroke or cycle 0 operation, unless, some mechanicalmeans is used to force the implement into the material to be loaded. Ifthe rake or hoe be forced down into the material in order to engage alarge quantity, the same trouble will develo which is found in theoperation of mechanical loaders of the shovel type, because theimplement if driven forcibly into the material, will strike lumps thatare too large to be moved without damage to the machine.

We overcome these ,dilficulties, and are able to construct a machineinvolving the principle of operation as above described, by using aplurality of fingers, each of which constitutes an inde endent hoe orrake, and each of which is independently free to engage with thematerial to be excavated. In a general way the construction of such aseries, or plurality, of fingers is not unlike that used in some formsof what are known as finger chutes, in which bent bars of iron are usedto-control the flow of material down a ..chute or from ore bins as ispractised in feeding crushers and the like in the crushing and handlingof ores and other materials. These fingers, however, when used asrakesin the operation of our invention differ from those used in fingerchutes, because they are attached to apparatus by which they can bereciprocated, that is, advanced over and above the material to be loadedand drawn back dragging the mamaterial moved by other strokes of themachine will move it to such point of discharge) which, as alreadystated, may be a mine car, conveyor or other receptacle. In thedevelopment of our invention we have found'that it may often bedesirable to have the fingers equipped with movable claws, that is,claws movably attached to the fingers, so that in advancing the fingersover a pile of, material to be loaded, claws striking the top of thepile or lumps projecting from the top of the pile may fold up and thusbe advanced to the required position without pushing materialaway-from-the point toward which the material is to be moved.

The claws should be so constructed as to fall into proper position toengage with the material to be loaded after having passed over thismaterial. Having been advanced upon or beyond the pile, ortop of thepile, of the material to be loaded, the claw attached to each finger,and the finger itself, will then fall by gravity, or by other forceapplied to each finger, so that each claw independently engages in thematerial to be moved, finding its way into any nearby crevice, orsinking into loose material; excepting that those claws which strikeupon large lumps and thus are prevented from falling further, will uponpassing or being dragged over such lump, immediately engage with othermaterial to be loaded. Those claws that catch behind the upper portionof the larger lumps of material, but that do not sink behind the body ofsuch larger lumps a sufficient distance tomove them bodily forward,either tend to pull such lumps out from the mass of material to bemoved, thus loosening them and bringing them into a position to be morereadily engaged by succeeding tant advantage secured by the operation ofour invention when the material to be loaded contains relatively largelumps. The same rolling of the larger lumps also occurs when the lumpslie in or at thebottom of the pile of material, for claws catching nearthe top of such lumps roll them over and thus assist in moving them inthe desired direction. In this way nearly all of the claws arecontinuously engaged in doing useful work either in scraping or rollingmaterial, and the mechanical cooperation of all the claws insures themovement of a relatively large quantity of material with relativelysmall expenditure of mechanical energy. In carrying out our inventionthe plurality of fingers and claws which constitute the excavating orloading device must be given a reciprocating motion by some suitablemechanical means, must be elevated during the out-stroke, so that theclaws will pass above and over material to be loaded, and must fall ordescend during the in-or loading-stroke.

A further detail of that part of our invention which relates to the useof movable claws (each finger and claw or claws constituting a separaterake or hoe) is the holding up to its work of each of the claws by aforce resiliently applied, as through a spring, or any suitable elasticcushion, so that if the claw catches upon a lump which is too large tobe dra ged or moved, or upon any inequality in t e floor of the mine, orupon any obstruction such as a projecting steel rail, it can move undersuch stress with a limited motion, such limited motion being sufficientto permit the claw to rotate backwardly until it reaches an angle atwhich it will slide over, or become detached from, I

such lump or other obstruct-ion.

These improvements in the construction of this type of loader, enable usto build a durable machine of light weight and relatively small size, sothat it can readily be moved about in the place in which it is workingand can easily be transported from one such working place to another.

Some forms of apparatus by which the described method may be carried outare illustrated by drawings of two types of ma chines suitable for thepurpose; Fig.1 is a vertical cross-section and elevation and Fig. II isa plan View of apparatus illustrating the use of a plurality ofindependently movable fingers free to fall by gravity during a portionof the working cycle and with hinged or movable claws; Fig. III is anenlarged cross-section and elevation showing the construction of such ahinged claw with resilient means for protecting it and other parts ofthe machine from damage Fig. IV is a vertical elevation and Fig; V is aplan view of apparatus illustrating the use p of a plurality ofindependently movable fingers raised and lowered by power separatelyapplied and also illustrates the use of fingers with fixed claws. Figs.I and II illustrate one method of imparting a reciprocating motion tothe fingers and Figs. IV and V illustrate another method ofreciprocation. Reciprocation can of course be effected by any of themeans in common use for converting rotary motion into reciprocat ingmotion.

In Figs. I and II the fingers 1, of which four are shown, are mountedupon, but free to rotate upon, the carrier shaft 2, which is carried onbearings by a cross-head 3 at both ends of said carrier shaft 2, saidcross heads 3 being connected together by the channels 4 to form a rigidstructure; this double cross-head is shown as framed of structural steeland adapted to travel upon the channels 5 as guides, thus providing fora reciprocatory movement of the carrier shaft 2 and fingers 1. Thecarrier shaft 2 is keyed, or otherwise rigidly attached to theconnecting rods 6, and the levers or arms 7 are also keyed to, orrigidly attached to, the carrier bar or shaft 2, so that any change inthe angular position of the connecting rod 6 affects a correspondingchange in the position of the arms 7, bracket arms 8 and plate 9. Thisplate 9 runs across underneath the fingers 1, and when in the positionshown by the drawing it supports the fingers in a horizontal or otherdesired position, but when due to change in the angular position of theconnecting rod 6 the plate 9 drops, the fingers 1 are free to drop bygravity. The connecting rods 6 are actuated by the drive-bar 10, whichdrive-bar is connected at each end to a link in one of the drive-chains11, the connection being made on the outer side of the chain that is, onthe side farthest from thecenter of the drive-sprockets 12, so that themotion of the drive-bar 10 is along the path of travel of thedrive-chains 11. In other words, this motion is a reciprocatinghorizontal motion combined with a vertical motion. equal to the diameterof the drive-sprockets 12 and idler-sprockets 13. It is thereforeevident that at or near the end of each reciprocation, those ends of theconnecting rods 6 which are attached to the drive-bar 10 are raised orlowered by a distance equal to the pitch diameter of the point ofconnection of 4 connected arm 30 connected by this bar 10 to thedrive-chains 11, and that the angular position of the connecting rods 6is thus changed at each end of th reciprocatory motion, thus raising thefing rs 1 and permitting them to fall by gravity as already explained.The driving-sprookets 12 are mounted upon shafts carrying t e ex teriordriving-sprockets 14, actuated through drive-chains 15" by sprockets 16,which are 17, actuated by drive-chains 18, which are v operativelyconnected to any suitable source of power for operating the apparatus.The operation of this apparatus is sufiiciently simple and can readilybe understood from the preceding description of the way in which'theindividual claws engage the material to be moved or loaded and rake itforward, dragging it upon and over the apron 19, from which it isdischarged into or upon conveyor 20 for delivery into mine car or otherdesired receptacle, this conveyor being shown as a scraper conveyor butbeing intended diagrammatically to illustrate the use of any type ofconveyor suitable for the purpose. The working parts of this apparatusare shown mounted upon a steel frame 21 designed to run upon wheels orrollers 22, which of course may or may not be used as the conditionsrequire.

Fig. III shows an enlarged section and view of the type of movable clawin which the claw 23 is connected by the pin 24 to the movable finger 1;movement of the claw in one direction being restrained by the- .thrustcylinders 29 which are adapted for use of any desired fluid medium underpressure as a source of power for the reciprocatory motion of thecross-head 3 and fingers 1'. It will be noted that the fingers 1 areprovided in this case with fixed claws, but movable claws may be used inthis type of machine as in the type shown by Figs. I and II. Thisdrawing shows the operation of the fingers 1 by power directly applied,and illustrated in this particular type of construction by the use ofthrust cylinders, which are intended to diagrammatically illustrate theapplication of power from any source or by any means for the independentand individual operation of the plurality of fingers used in thecarrying out of our invention. drawing are each provided with .a rigidlypin connection to a piston rod 31 of thrust cylinder 32,-which isconnected by pin connection or otherwise revolvably mounted upon a bar33, which through bracket or pedestals 34 is connected to thecross-head'3'. The thrust cylinders 32 are each connected by flexiblepipes or tubes 35 and 36 to pipe manifolds 37 and 38, which are suppliedwith a fluid The fingers 1' as shown in the medium under pressurethrough pipes 39 and 40, which are free toslide through the stufiingboxes or packing glands 41 and. 42

. and thus are in operatlve relation to the source of fluid underpressure supplied from any suitable source of such supply thropgh thepipes 43 and 44 and valves connected therewith. The operation ofapparatus of this type will be easily understood.

' from the operation of the thrust cylinder The fingers 1 receive areciprocatory motion by the drawings can be summarized briefly,

as follows: 1. As the movable claws attached to the fingers are free torotate it is possible to drive these fingers in over the top of a pileof material which may be almost in contact with the roofof the mine, oreven actually in contact with the roof, b' cause the movable clawsautomatically will fold up against the fingers when these are drivenforward over or, into such pile of material, :for any claw which strikesan obstruction will be partly closed or raised by such contact, but

'whenthe fingers have been advanced to the end of the stroke of theloader, the fingers are free to fall (by gravity, suppl'niented by thepressure of a spring or the like, or by power mechanically applied) andthe claws will thus tend to sink into the coal, rock or ore, each clawfalling (or being forced) into interstices between'lumps which may beadjacent to it; upon a reversal in the direction of the motion of thefingers, these claws will tend-to open automatically, so that as thefingers are moved towards th delivery end of the loader each clawZutomatically becomes buried to some coniderable depth in the pile ofmaterial to be loaded, and in its travel towards the loader thus rakesor drags a certain quantity of material with it; this advantage due tothe automatic opening of the claws of the movable claw type would ofcourse not obtain with the fixed claw type shown by Figs. IV and V.

2. The construction of this raking apparatus embodying a plurality ofindependent movable fingers with claws, each free to fall by gravity andto become engaged with material lying in the path of travel of the clawsinsures the performance of a very much larger quantity of work, orgreater efiiciency of the machine as a whole, than can be realized bythe use of a rake in memeswhich theindividual claws or teeth are fixed Vin their relation each to the other, because in such rake or hoe thewhole scraping structure will frequently become hun [up upon a lump ofmaterial, and sliding own or riding over the lump as the stroke of theloader-is made, will move little or no material towards the point atwhich it is to be"- loaded. It is'alsoevident thatrakes or hoes withscraping blades or with claws rigidly connected together could not be,

drivrn into material lying in close proximity to the roof, andthat if anattempt were made to drive such apparatus forward to get the rakingdevice behind the pile of material this would merely. push the loosecoal against the face of the unmined coal. Such operating conditionswould'in many cases produce destructive stresses in the excavatingmember. v

3. It is therefore evident that this combination of elements makes itpossible to drive the fingers with their raking claws into, above, ontop and behind a pile of.

material and that each finger can adjust itself automatically to thebest advantage in scraping or raking the material towards the point ofdelivery.

4. It is evident that the type of our invention in which the movablefingers have fixed claws, may be employed to advantage in loadingmaterial where there is sufiicient head room above the pile of materialto be moved to permit the claws of the fingers to be lifted over the topof the pile, and that the advantages derived from .the use of theindependently movable fingers are not necessarily confined to movablefingers equipped with movable claws, but may, when there is sufiicientheadroom, be realized with movable fingers equipped with fixed claws.

5. When the material to be loaded is soft and easily penetrated by theclaws, the weight of each finger andclaw may be sufii cient to cause theclaws to sink a suficient distance into the material, the force ofgravity being relied upon to perform this function, but where it isdesired to use fin gers and claws of relatively light construction orwhen the material to be loaded is of such nature that it is not easilypenetrated by the claws, the fingers may be independently actuated bypower applied by any convenient means, such as a spring or other form ofaccumulator or by a prime mover, such means being illustrateddiagrammatically by the thrust cylinders and connections of Figs. IV andV1 It will of course be understood that apparatus of the type in whichthe claws are mechanically forced into the material to be moved, may bebuilt to operate with the fingers and claws moving in a plane at anydesired angle from the vertical, because in apparatus of this type it isnot necessary to rely upon gravity,

to effect penetration of the material to be excavated or moved.

The drawings Figs. I to V inclusive show types of apparatus in which thefingers are equipped with relatively sharp and narrow claws similar inshape to an ordinary mining or excavating pick. It is evident that clawsof this shape if spaced a considerable distance apart could not be usedfor loading material consisting of lumps appreciably smaller in diameterthan the open space between the claws, but if the material to be loadedcontains a substantial or large percentage of lumps greater in diameterthan the space between the claws, the apparatus will load the finematerial as well as the coarser lumps. It is of course evident that pickshaped claws will more readily sink into the material to be moved andwill more readily penetrate crevices between the lumps of material, thanclaws with broader or hoe shaped edges, but a pick shaped claw isseparately and individually able to move or transport but little if anymaterial; that is, as a loading or scraping tool its efliciency isalmost nil. The successful operation of our invention therefore does notdepend upon the efliciency of the claws as individual tools forconveying or loading materials, but upon the efiect of co-action betweentwo or more claws and the larger lumps of the materials to be moved orloaded, the larger lumps spanning the open spaces between the claws sothat the claws combine with these larger lumps to form a scraper capableof scraping and dragging along the finer material. During the operationof each cycle therefore the larger lum s which thus become engaged indoing t liis work, may be considered as an essential part of the operating mechanism. It will be understood that while the construction shownby the drawings does not provide for lateral movement of the point ofthe claw, the elasticity of the material of which the fingers and clawsare made and the clearances of the attachments of the claws to thefingers permit of a slight lateral movement of the point of the claws,and this enables the claws to penetrate into crevices and intersticesbetween the lumps of material more readily than if merged with the clawso as to be a part thereof and constituting that part of the claw thatfurnishes the means for attachment to the mechanism whereby the claw isactuated.

The claw may be of any shape or type suitable for the material to bemoved; it may be shaped like a pick, mattock, hoe, shovel, rake tooth,and may have a sharp, cutting, serrated or rounded edge. Two or moreclaws may be attached to one finger,

two or more fingers may be coupled to act in unison, or the fin ers andthe claws may be made of varying engths, without departing from thespirit of our invention.

The words loader and loading as used in the specification and claimshereof are intended to designate the excavating as well as loading ofmaterials. The method and apparatus described are adapted to excavatingand loading either separately or simultaneously. Even in loading loosematerial the loader acts as excavator, as it is continuously excavatingmaterial from the pile of material being loaded.

Having described our invention, we claim, 1. In a mechanical loader, thecombination which consists in a group of independently movable fingerswith claws projecting therefrom, an element upon which said fingers areindependently and movably mounted, said element being so mounted that itcan be given'a reciprocating motion and means for imparting areciprocating motion to said element.

2. In a mechanical loader, the combination which consists in a group ofindependently movable fingers with claws projecting therefrom, anelement upon which saidfingers are independently and movably mounted,said element being so mounted that it can be given a reciprocatingmotion, means for imparting a reciprocating motion to said element andmeans for raising and lowering said fingers.

3. In a mechanical loader, the combination which consists in a group ofindependently movable fingers with claws projecting therefrom, anelement upon which said fingers are independently and movably mounted,said element being movably mounted so that it can be given 'areciprocating motion, means for reciprocating said element, means forraising and lowering said fingers and an apron adapted to direct thematerial beingmoved towards the desired point of delivery.

4. In a mechanical loa'der, the combination which consists in a group ofindependently movable fingers with claws projectin therefrom, an elementupon which sai fingers are independently and movably mounted, saidelement being movably mounted so that it can be given a reciprocatingmotion, means for reciprocating said I terial bein element, means forraising and lowering said fingers, an apron adapted to direct themamoved towards the desired point of de ivery and a conveyor adapted toconvey the material to the desired pointof delivery.

5. A mechanical loader comprlsing 1n combinationa group of independentlymovable claws so mounted as to be in mechanically cooperative' relationto pieces of the material to be loaded with which they are brought intocontact and which are larger than the open spaces between said claws,whereby said claws in such co-operative relation with such larger piecesof material will combine with said pieces to form a scraping tooladapted to move the finer material to be loaded by scraping it towardsthe point of delivery, said group of claws thus coacting simultaneouslyas a single excavating and loading tool, and means for reciprocatingsaid claws.

6. In a mechanical loader, the combination which consists in a group ofinde-.

pendently movable fingersiwith claws at,- tached thereto, an elementupon which said fingers are mounted, said element bein operativelyconnected with means where y it may be reciprocated, guides to controlthe path of travel of said element and means for raising said fingersduring a portion of Y the reciprocation of said ele ent.

7. In a mechanical loader, the combination which consists in a group ofindependently movable claws so mounted as to be in mechanicallyco-operative relation to pieces in a direction of travel towards thedesired point of delivery, means for recipro eating said claws and anapron adapted to direct the movement of said material towards thedesired oint of delivery.

8. In a mechanical loader the combination which consists of a pluralityof in dependently movable fingers "and claws revolvably attached to saidfingers, said claws being free to fold up towards said fingers in theone direction but with their motion in the opposite direction restrainedby resilient means adapted to limit the strain to which said claws canbe subjected by the operation of the said loader.

In testimony whereof, we have set our hands, HENRY M. CHANCE, atPhiladelphia,

Pennsylvania, on the first day of July 1918, and THOMAS M. CHANGE atBaltimore, Marylandmn the fifth day of July 1918.

- HENRY M. CHANCE.

OMAS M. CHANCE. Witnesses as to Henry M. Chance:

J. H. QUINN,

CHAS. BUSH. Witnesses as to Thomas M. Chance:

RICHARD BLUE,

E. PAUL MASON.

